Ultramobiles will start to catch on, but tablets and Android will steal the show

Gartner Inc. (IT) a leading market research firm has published its latest predictions regarding device sales.

It notes that the total market for devices is expanding, with strong pickup in developing regions, such as China, India, and Brazil. It predicts 2.4 billion devices will be sold in 2013 -- up 9 percent from a year ago. Of those, 1.875 billion of them are expected to be smartphones.

Gartner predicts Android will crack the 1 billion unit mark next year. The predications indicate that Android leader Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KSC:005930) may best its already bullish target of 390 million Android smartphones sold in 2013. And it predicts in five years Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone and iPad (which run iOS) will sell half a billion units -- close to PC sales.

BlackBerry 10 didn't do enough to convince Gartner of BlackBerry Ltd.'s (TSE:BB) survival prospects. The agency predicts BlackBerry sales to continue their downward slide in years to come. Interestingly, Gartner predicts a strong showing from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) between 2014 and 2017. Although the press release did not elaborate on the basis of this prediction, Gartner's numbers show Microsoft growing as fast as Apple during that period, with both OS makers trailing Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android empire.

Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, comments on the declining role of the traditional PC, "Lower prices, form factor variety, cloud update and consumers' addiction to apps will be the key drivers in the tablet market. Growth in the tablet segment will not be limited to mature markets alone. Users in emerging markets who are looking for a companion to their mobile phone will increasingly choose a tablet as their first computing device and not a PC."